Weeds, "Only Judy Can Judge": family dinner, round two

Quick Take: Weeds, "Only Judy Can Judge"Nancy's recovery seems to set the tone for the final season of Weeds.

Review: Weeds, "Only Judy Can Judge"(S0804) So, I’ve been a little late bringing this last season’s crop of Weeds reviews to harvest, but don’t let that speak to the quality of the grow. Last season certainly renewed the sense of excitement and intrigue that followed the comedy for its first few seasons – particularly the final cliffhanger we were left on while Showtime deliberated whether or not to bring Weeds back to their Summer Sunday garden. And that’s right where Season Eight picks up: Nancy. Crosshairs. Fadeout. Gunshot.

The Botwin-Price-Grey family compound was supposed to be the family’s reprieve from the dangers of the Mexican cartel and the equally-angry wives whose husbands Nancy has slept with. But it only took one dinner to upset the new balance, sending Nancy straight to the ER with a gunshot wound to the head. Shane chases the killer but to no avail, Doug and Jill rekindle their romance on Nancy’s hospital bed, and Silas takes over the canna-business while mother-dearest is in recovery.

And what a recovery it’s been so far. Despite her limp and the odd word or term that she gets stuck on while her brain reorganizes around the hole and bullet fragment, Nancy has made an amazing recovery. She doesn’t hesitate to throw the weight of the rumours behind her condition to persuade a clown to supply the hospital’s patients with free “baked” goods, but otherwise, Nancy seems fully committed to maintaining a positive attitude and getting close with her youngest son, Stevie.

After spending the first few episodes tracking down the son of the DEA agent who got involved with, and subsequently killed because of Nancy in Season One, the rest of the season seems to be building towards the inevitable clash between drug dealer Silas, and Shane the police cadet. Shane might not believe what Silas is doing is wrong, but so long as the people he works for do, the middle Botwin child may have no choice but to oppose Silas’s endeavours.

Which is how the second attempt at a Botwin-Price-Grey family dinner culminates. After a literal load of crap interrupts Nancy’s sundowning and the building exchange of damaging secrets between Shane and Silas in front of their guests, Nancy finally gets some time alone with Stevie.

Fans of the show during its infancy will be thrilled that Season Eight sees a return of the “Little Boxes” theme song, covered in rotation every week by a new band overtop the black-marker animation that chronicles the Botwin’s journey to date. Aside from Nancy’s would-be assassin and one-time step son, Tim Scottson, there have yet to be any familiar faces from earlier than last season. If last season was any indication, however, there are certain to be a slew of expected and unexpected guest stars shooting up like weeds.

If the impact of last night’s finale of the Walking Dead was at all diminished by the quality of season premieres it went up against, I’d hate to see how it would have matched up against those same shows’ finales.

This is the first season that I've tailed off on my Weeds viewing. I watched part of the season premiere and was pretty bored. I suppose I'll catch up at some point if only to finish the journey with the Botwins ;-)

I wasn't going to watch this season unless I had documented proof that it would be the show's end-run. There aren't many shows that have lasted this long that I've stuck with - and there was plenty of reason to bail mid-series.

Andy and Doug are still the comic highlights, but I'm curious to see what, if anything, comes out of Silas and Shane's opposing career paths.